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Oklahoma's Winery Rush

Wineries multiply despite climatic and legal challenges

by Jeff Siegel

HIGHLIGHTS
 

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• Oklahoma had just two licensed wineries in 1986; today there are nearly 50.
   
• Hot, dry summers and freezing winters make grapegrowing a challenge.
   
• Hardy vinifera and hybrids fare best in most regions.
   
• The "novelty factor" draws many visitors to local tasting rooms, and many vintners' wines sell out.

When J.L. Gilbert opened Sparks Vineyard & Winery in northeastern Oklahoma in 2000, he recalls, there were only five or six other operations in the state. Today, there are almost 50. "I'm kind of impressed with that number," says Gilbert, whose winery produces about 4,200 cases a year. "I'm kind of impressed with a lot of things that have happened with Oklahoma wine." Oklahoma had just two licensed wineries in 1986, but was the fourth fastest growing wine state in 2006 in terms of the number of new wineries, according to Wines & Vines Directory/Buyer's Guide data.

In sales, tasting rooms are beginning to take a back seat to off-premise and even on-premise sales, accounting for as much as half of the revenue at some wineries. In addition, winery-related tourism has taken off, attracting visitors from around the country. Grape production may still be minuscule at about 600 acres, but that's grown dramatically since the beginning of the decade.

All of this has happened despite substantial handicaps, of which the state's hot, dry summers and freezing winters may not be the most serious. The industry has been struggling with a distribution lawsuit for the past couple of years, while at the same time, its mostly second-career winery owners have been trying to figure out which grapes to plant and how to turn them into quality wine.

"This can turn into a nice niche industry for the state," says Eric Stafne, Ph.D., an extension horticulturist who teaches at Oklahoma State in Stillwater and works with grapegrowers and winery owners. "I'm not sure how big it will ever be, but there is no reason why Oklahoma can't have quality wineries producing quality wines."

Geography Lesson

Clay soil, with its poor drainage and subsequent disease problems, is everywhere, so growers and wineries look for particular areas where there is sandy loam on top of the clay. Oklahoma's wine comes from four main regions:

• Northeast, in and around Tulsa: This part of the state resembles Missouri in climate and soil, and growers are planting hybrids and hardy vinifera like Riesling.
• North central, north of Stillwater, in an area in and around Enid. Again, hybrids and hardy vinifera dominate.
• Mid-central, south of Stillwater to I-40, in and around Lincoln County. This is primarily vinifera country, with the focus on Syrah, Merlot and Chardonnay (although some hybrids are produced).
• Southwest, below I-40, in and around Lawton and Hobart. This is mostly vinifera; also, one of the driest grapegrowing regions, with less than 30 inches per year. In addition, even here, winter temperatures can get as low as 10°F.

In fact, regardless of region, Oklahoma's growing season is long and hot. It's not unusual for the last freeze to come in March, and the season can last until the middle of October. But that's not necessarily a good thing. Temperatures frequently reach the high 90s, even in the northernmost part of the state, and it's equally common for nighttime temperatures to remain in the low 80s. Most established warm weather regions, like Eastern Washington state, see a 30- or 40-degree drop at night. In the northeast, harvest starts as early as the end of July.

Given theseIrrigation is essential. During the drought of 2005-2006, Stafne says, when rainfall totals were half of normal, most of the vines would have died without irrigation. Throw in the very hard freezes typical of Oklahoma, and it's easy to see that weather produces a host of challenges. Lincoln County sees an average of 22 days of 20°F or lower, while an April freeze during bud break devastated several parts of the state. Don Neal, who owns the 2,400-case, 3-year-old StableRidge (above, right) Vineyards in northeastern Stroud with his wife Annette, says: "We can't have late ripening grapes."

conditions, Stafne says, hybrids like Chambourcin, and Norton and Traminette, a descendant of Gewürztraminer, are probably the state's best bet in the long run. The weather is just too unpredictable for all but the hardiest vinifera.

Looking for pests

Then, just to make things more interesting, the state is home to diseases ranging from crown gall to Pierce's disease to the grape berry moth to black rot and bunch rot. Disease pressure, Stafne says, is worst in the southwest region.

Why have so many people spent so much time and effort trying to establish an industry in a region that seems so inhospitable? No one is exactly sure. Some of it is practical, as small farmers try to find something with a better pay-off than the state's traditional staples of cattle, winter wheat, hay and corn. Some of it i s part of the national trend, in which lawyers, physicians, high-tech entrepreneurs and the like see the wine business as a chance for a second career.

And the rest? "Honestly, I can't tell you," says Bob McBratney, a retired eye surgeon who owns the 2,000-case, 8-year-old Stone Bluff Cellars in Haskell. "I think it's just a lifestyle decision. This is a lifestyle that appeals to a lot of people."

As many have learned, it's not always an easy to one to master. Talk to winemakers like McBratney, and they acknowledge challenges in the barrel room, like volatile acidity and sanitation, that have not always been easy to conquer. Some of that has been eased by many producers attending classes across the Texas border at Grayson County College, which offers a two-year degree and continuing education programs in viticulture and enology. But some of it, they say, is one of those things that only experience can help.

Selling the product

One thing that winery owners seem to have figured out quite well is marketing. No one says they're making a bundle, but it's not unusual for producers to echo Neal, a former corporate recruiter, who sells out several of his labels every vintage. His 50 cases of 2005 Chenin Blanc, at $21 per bottle, sold out in August 2006. Neal's wines are in 40 retailers across the state, while McBratney has 65 outlets.

"A lot of it is the novelty factor," says Jerry Wall, who owns Wall's Wine Bin in Oklahoma City, which carries labels from 15 Oklahoma wineries among its 2,900-wine inventory. "People can say to their friends and relatives, 'Hey, look what we've got here.' Plus, some of it is the 'Sideways' effect. Our Oklahoma wine sales went up after that movie, and stayed there."

Many of the state's wineries are firm believers in wine tourism, marketing themselves not only as wineries but as part of their region's attractions. Gilbert and partner I-Na Chow also own The Wine Village, a gift shop and wine retailer. StableRidge, on historic U.S. Route 66, emphasizes that in its promotional materials. At Stone Bluff, McBratney says, he and his wife long ago realized that visitors and residents wanted to do something more than explore the state's Native American heritage, as impressive as that is. "Wine is new and different for these people," he says. "They're going to bring their friends out. And they're more upscale than someone visiting the Five Nations."

What kind of wine are they drinking? Not surprisingly, Gilbert says, "Sweet wine sells in Oklahoma." His three top-sellers are a sweet red made with Concord and Sunbelt, a Concord knockoff; a sweet white made with Muscadine, which he buys from Arkansas; and a semi-sweet white made with Traminette. On the other hand, two of McBratney's best selling wines are a Norton he calls Cynthiana (he thinks the name is more consumer-friendly) and a Chardonel--both well-made, fairly priced wines.

"Our consumers are very receptive to unusual varietals," McBratney says. "Since we're among the 10 states with the lowest wine consumption, that means they don't have particularly well-established palates. They don't know what they're not supposed to like."

Legal tussles

Against this background is a long-running legal dispute between the industry and Oklahoma's distributors and retailers. In March 2006, three Oklahoma liquor wholesalers filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn a state law that allowed the state's winemakers to sell their product directly to restaurants, retail liquor stores and consumers who visit their wineries. Oklahoma voters had approved a constitutional amendment in 2000, creating an exemption for in-state wineries that beforehand could only distribute their product through the three-tier system.

The impetus for the suit, ironically, was the 2005 Supreme Court direct shipment decision, which struck down state laws that discriminated against out-of-state wineries--which the amendment does, since they can't sell directly to retailers. A federal judge confirmed in June that the provision for direct sales to retailers and restaurants was unconstitutional.

It's not that wineries are opposed to the three-tier system, Gilbert says. Rather, given their mostly small production, it's easier to do it directly. The suit led to some bad blood between retailers and the industry. One Tulsa liquor store owner said he would be hard-pressed to find anyone he knew who would say anything nice about the state's wineries.

Still, winemakers and growers see the legal reversal as something they can overcome. "If you look at what we've done in the past four or five years," Gilbert says, "we have a great future."

Jeff Siegel is the Wine Curmudgeon for the Star-Telegram newspaper in Fort Worth, Texas, and the wine columnist for Advocate city magazines in Dallas. He also writes for a surprising number of trade magazines.

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